Allergies
by kathrynblack
Summary: When a retired Lieutenant drops dead in his home Holly and Trouble soon find themselves knee deep in a far more complicated investigation than they orrigionaly thought.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Another new story. So much for only writing one at a time. **

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Holly Short awoke to a sharp rapping on the glass of her car window. She opened her eyes, turned her head to see a young Captain standing beside her squad car, and rolled down her window.

"Catchin' a lot of speeders are we?" He asked. Holly closed her eyes again and sighed, leaning her head against the head rest, but before she could say anything he continued, "You really shouldn't be sleepin' on the job. Someone sees you and your hopes of makin' Recon are shot."

"What do you want Trouble?" Holly asked with her eyes still closed.

"I caught a case, Root wants you to help me out," Trouble answered, "Do this right you'll be on the fast track for Recon, if not...well get used to traffic duty."

"You need a ride?"

"Yeah, mine already left." Trouble climbed into the passenger side, "We're headed to the corner of Randolph St. and 116th Ave."

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A large crowd that had gathered in front of the house of Lieutenant Rollin Covena, their victim, Lieutenant Droin was trying to keep the press at bay, while a couple of the corporals from his office handled the civilians. Holly and Trouble pushed through the gathered crowd. They flashed their badges to Lieutenant Droin, and he waved them in. Holly and Trouble ducked under the yellow crime scene tape and walked in.

An officer met them at the door. "Corporal Almaden, I was the first officer on the scene," he introduced himself.

"Captains Kelp and Short," Trouble replied, "What've we got?"

"He dropped dead at exactly 2:18 p.m, wife remembered to look at the clock. She administered CPR, but it couldn't bring him back. When I realized who he was I put in a call to Root, and he sent you."

"What about an M.E?" Holly asked.

"Chanson's already inside." Almaden replied. He led Holly and Trouble into the kitchen. Deon Chanson kneeled next to the body, inspecting it.

"Got a T.O.D yet?" Trouble asked, Kneeling beside him and pulling on latex gloves.

"You know how I hate to speculate on such things, Captain Kelp," replied Chanson.

"If you had to speculate?"

"2:18, just like the wife said," Sensing Trouble's next question, Chanson continued, "What possible reason could she have to lie, even if she did kill him."

"You probably have a point," Trouble concluded, "Anything on cause?"

"I've been here a grand total of five minutes, Kelp. I know how you hate it, but you're just gonna have to wait."

"Wait I shall," Trouble replied. He walked the few steps to Holly and asked, "What've you got for me?"

"Crime Scene's baggin' and taggin' pretty much everything in the house and I've got a copy of the wife's statement first officer on the scene took," Holly replied.

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Chanson made one final note on his preliminary autopsy and looked up at the corpse lying on a steel slab in his morgue. "Well my friend," he told the corpse, "This is strange, very strange indeed. I don't suppose you could tell me how this happened or who did it?" when no one replied he continued, "No? Well, that's okay," he placed his clipboard down and continued, "You know many people find it strange that I talk like this to you, but I find it strange that people like country music."

"I'll agree with you there, Chanson," a voice replied.

"Holly, I didn't hear you come in," Chanson replied.

"What've you got for me?" Holly asked.

"Now, it's just preliminary, and do make sure you mention that to Kelp, but it appeared he had a severe allergic reaction to peanut oil."

"Peanut oil? You'd think everyone there would've known not use any."

"You would indeed, which leads me to suspect it was murder."

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	2. Chapter 2

"Okay," Trouble said walking into Holly's cubicle at LEP Police Plaza.

Holly held up a finger telling him to wait a minute. She focused her attention back her phone conversation. "Thank you," she said, "And once again my condolences for your loss." She hung up the phone and turned to Trouble. "Yes?"

"Foaly just told me only thing his lab found that had peanut oil in it was the cake."

"Makes sense considering the wife just told me only thing that was not home made was the cake, and gave me an address for the bakery."

"Let's go. I'll drive."

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The bell above the door rang as Holly and Trouble walked into a bakery on 98th street. A gnome looked up and smiled. He walked over to the counter wiping the flour off his hands. "Good, morning. Would you like a cookie?" he asked motioning to a basket on his desk with a sign taped to it that said 'free'. "Just came outta the oven twenty minutes ago."

Holly flashed her badge while reaching for a chocolate chip cookie.

"The cake for Lieutenant Rollin Covena," Trouble started. He stopped abruptly when the loud clatter of metal being dropped echoed through the bakery. "I've got him." Trouble ran through the kitchen and out the back door after the fairy who took off running at the mention of Rollin Covena's cake.

Holly walked out the front door and saw an elf running through an alley in an attempt to get back to the main street in front of the shop. She waited for him to get closer to her, and then grabbed his arm. She twisted it behind his back causing a cringe of pain. "Corporal Holly Short, LEP, we have a few questions for you," She said.

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Trouble took a seat across from the elf whose name they had learned was Osten Zeddon. "So, I'm assuming you heard about Lieutenant Covena's death," Trouble started, "And considering the fact that you ran from us I will assume you know his death was no accident."

"You think I killed him?" Osten asked in disbelief.

"Someone spiked his birthday cake, and assuming you were the elf who baked it."

"That doesn't mean I did it, everyone in that bakery woulda had access."

Trouble chuckled, "You know what the strange thing is? I honestly don't believe you killed him. And do you know why? It's because you're not smart enough. Someone knew he was deathly allergic to peanut oil, and that no one else in his family was. It's the perfect way to dispatch of one person without ever setting foot at the crime scene. And I just don't think you're smart enough to come up with that, no offense. Though, I just can't get over the fact that you ran from us. Why would you do that?"

"It's your first instinct if you're from where I'm from."

"It's not that. Let's start with you didn't at all grow up in a bad part of town. It wouldn't be your first instinct, and even if it was, you did not run at the sight of us. You didn't run when you saw our badge. No, you ran at the mention of Rollin Covena's cake. But I stand by my earlier assumption that you're not smart enough to come up with this on your own. Which leaves only one logical assumption: someone paid you to do it.

"Now you can confess and tell me who paid you, and I might let you off easy. Or you could keep your mouth shut and I stick you in holding till I have enough to charge you with conspiracy."

"Okay, so I got a couple thousand for slipping some peanut oil in my batter. Don't know who it is though. Only met him once. He was in sunglasses and a dark hoodie." Osten said.

Trouble sighed. This was not helpful. What did he know now that he wasn't at least 98% sure of before this interrogation? Nothing, the answer was as simple as that.

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Deon Chanson had been handed another high profile body for an autopsy. A respected judge by the name of Zack Nindovo had died in what appeared to be a drive by shooting. The fact that no one else had been injured in the shooting led Chanson to believe that Zack Nindovo had been the target.

Chanson had a strange feeling that this body and Lieutenant Covena's murder were linked. There was a lack of similarities between the two cases, but the fact that both of these people showed up dead within 24 hours of each other was too big a coincidence, considering that Covena's biggest case and Nindovo's biggest trial were one in the same.

Which of course meant there were other people most likely on this hit list, but Root did not like theories. Root would not buy into this without some real evidence. Chanson reached for the phone and dialed Holly's desk number. "This is Chanson grab Kelp and meet me down here, I've got another body for you."


	3. Chapter 3

Chanson stood between the bodies of Rollin Covena and Zack Nindovo facing Holly and Trouble. "Now, I realize both of you weren't born when this happened, but seeing as Trouble majored in history you might just know," Chanson started, "Lieutenant Rollin Covena and the Honorable Judge Zach Nindovo of the fifth district court of Haven, What do they have in common?"

It took Trouble all of a minute and a half to figure it out. "You can't possibly think-"

"Oh, but I do," Chanson answered before Trouble could finish his question.

"I hope you have proof because Root is not going to-"

"Guys, what are you talking about?" Holly asked. She did not like being the only one in a room in the dark about something and it showed in her voice.

"Chanson, you were involved, explain it to the lady," Trouble said.

"That's his way of saying he failed the course where they covered these cases." Chanson said to Holly.

"I got a C." Trouble corrected him.

"Okay. Now it was 90 years ago. Anyone alive will remember the case. Five women were found dead within a month of each other, all stabbed through the heart. In charge of the case was Rollin Covena and Julius Root who had been restricted from the surface and he'd kill me if I told you why, so don't be too offended that I don't.

"Only connection we could find between these five women was the metro route they took to work. Each passed through the same station everyday at about the same time. There was a man on security duty at that time Lieutenant Covena was almost certain was the guy, and you trusted Covena's instincts.

"A search of his house turned up a knife set missing the type of knife that matched the wounds on all the women. He insisted the knife had been missing for years. Covena and Root arrested him. After hours of interrogation that gave us nothing a Captain who majored in criminal psychology was called in. He eventually got us enough to go to trial and his testimony was key for the prosecution. Security guard was found innocent, but after the trial few believed he actually was."

"So you think he's out for blood?" Holly asked.

"Yes. I think we need protection on a fair number if people who were involved in this case before another one of them turns up dead."

"I just want to clear something up here. Covena I get, but why kill the judge?" Trouble asked.

"Judge denied three motions on the part of the defense to dismiss the case."

"That'd do it. Any idea on how to find this guy?"

"After they're found innocent LEP doesn't officially keep track of them, but I'm sure Root's keeping an eye on him."

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**A/N: sorry for the lack of…well much of anything in this chapter. It'll get better. Trust me.**


	4. Chapter 4

Holly and Trouble were in Commander Julius Root's office trying to convince him that his life was in danger and he should accept increased security of some sort to ensure he was safe. Everyone else Chanson determined was in danger had already agreed, but they knew Root would be tough so they had saved him for last.

"No," Root answered when they had finished asking him, his face quickly turning from its normal red to a purple, "I will not indulge this theory of Chanson's that has no evidence whatsoever!"

Holly bit her lip to keep her from responding. She had been instructed not to speak. Trouble had told her it gave them a better chance.

"But Sir-" Trouble started.

"I said no. When you have some corroborating evidence I might consider it. Till then I can take care of myself and I don't need you telling me I can't!"

"D'Arvit!" Holly screamed, unable to hold back any longer, "One guard, that is all we ask. I get that you can take care of yourself. I get that you don't want to appear weak, but the council chairman is one of the most decorated LEP officers in recent history and he has five bodyguards. Does anyone think he's weak?"

Root looked as though he was about to strangle one of them. Either Holly for what just might be insubordination or Trouble for allowing it. Right now it appeared to Trouble that it was a toss-up.

"Leave," Trouble mouthed quickly to Holly. He decided he'd take the full front of whatever Root was about to throw, and if he was lucky someone else might piss him off just as much and he would forget Holly's involvement in this. If that happened she'd still have her spot on Recon.

Trouble watched Holly slam the door before turning back to Root. He was drumming his fingers on the barrel of his gun. It seemed to have a magical calming affect and soon his face was back to its normal color.

She reminded him of Vinyaya, Root thought. She had that same disregard for protocol and superior officer's orders that he found amusing, as long as it wasn't directed at him.

Trouble wasn't at all sure what was going on. Over his years on Recon he believed he had learned a good deal about his commanding officer, but this silence was something he did not expect. So he did something you did not do under normal circumstances after something like what had just transpired. He spoke first. "Sir, you security?" he asked.

"One person and make sure it's someone I don't hate." Root replied.

"Right away Commander," Trouble replied, grateful to have dodged the bullet, for now. He got up to leave.

"And Kelp," Root said, "Take care of that girl. Don't smother her, but keep an eye on her."

"Of course."

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"Yes, thank you," Holly said hanging up the phone. She was at her desk putting together everything she could find on Holden Layton, their chief suspect, when Trouble walked out of Root's office.

"I'm sorry," she told him.

"Don't worry. I probably wouldn't have lasted much longer," Trouble replied.

"How dead are we?"

"Surprisingly, not very. You're actually probably gonna get your spot on Recon when you're supposed to."

"I'm getting a spot on Recon?"

"As long as we don't screw this up, you'll have one final test."

"Whatever magic you worked, thank you."

"No problem. What've you got?"

"I just hung up with his employer. He hasn't shown up to work in two days. I've got his address though. I say we go check it out."

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"LEP!" Trouble screamed banging on the door of Holden Layton's apartment.

Much like the last three times he had knocked, there was no answer.

"In we go," Holly said drawing her gun and kicking down the door. She proceeded straight to the living room. "Clear!" she said.

"Clear!" Trouble said from the bedroom. That was the extent of the small apartment. He looked around the room, "Not much here. He's definitely in the wind."

Holly holstered her gun. "We better find him then."

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**A/N: Root was always the hardest for me to write. So I'm sorry if he's a little OOC.**


	5. Chapter 5

Trouble pulled a chair in front of a group of thirty LEP officers and climbed on top of it. He clapped his hands once, successfully drawing the attention of the crowd. "Okay, our guy's name is Holden Layton, every single one of you has his mug shot and the profile that Lieutenant Sumal put together on him 90 years ago. Currently Sumal is in the process of revising said profile, so watch your computer's for updates. Also, we brief the press with _one_ voice. Lieutenant Droin will be that voice. His office will coordinate _all _of the releases, and he will give _all_ of the releases. If reporters are calling you I can assure you they have called either Commander Root, Corporal Short, or myself. Just keep referring them to Lieutenant Droin.

"Now to the actual assignments. If you're on the canvas, there should be ten of you. Corporal Alita Sobiat is in charge. I realize she's new, but she grew up in the area and she knows how to get people in the Lower East Side talking, a trait I'm sure most of you wish you had. What I'm trying to say here is listen to her. Anything that involves where he might be headed goes to Corporal Sobiat, any other miscellaneous info about Layton is given to Sumal. He would like as much information as possible.

"Next we set up a tip hotline. Fifteen of you have cards that say you're working this. There's a pretty large reward for any tip that leads to the capture of Layton, so you are probably going to be flooded. Anything that seems even remotely credible goes to Corporal Short over here.

"The last five of you will be working with me. What I want is a list of friends and family, plus any properties owned by him or friends and family, plus I want to know about any activity in his bank account or credit cards, and anything else that might help us. Thank you. You all have your assignments now get to work." Trouble climbed down from atop the chair.

"Thanks Trouble," Holly said a note of sarcasm in her voice, "When I said I did not want to be stuck working the tip hotline what I obviously meant was I wanted to be put in charge."

"Holly, I want someone I can trust working this line. There are gonna be so many tips that something important might slip through the cracks. With you in charge that's less likely to happen."

"Okay. Judge Nindovo died because of a drive-by shooting, who've we got working on the bullets?"

"Foaly's working everything personally. He's got the bullets right now, but there was no gun at Layton's apartment or at the scene of Judge Nindovo's murder. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll still have it on him when we catch him. Also if he so much as turns on his mobile phone Foaly'll be able to track it to a one block radius, Root's stepping up security at all the chute's, he try's to go topside we've got him, and the Chairman put in a call to Atlantis, they're watching all entrances into the city. We'll have this guy in no time."

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A corporal who's name Holly couldn't remember at the moment walked into the makeshift office she had set up across from the tip hotline's base of operations a few floors down from her normal desk. "Here's what we got from the last half hour." He said depositing a stack of twenty pages on her desk.

"Thanks." Holly replied. She had finished with the last half hour's list of tips only five minutes ago. _So much for we'll have this guy in no time._ Holly thought. It had been two hours without a single solid lead.

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Corporal Alita Sobiat slipped her hands into her pockets and leaned back against and apartment building on 32nd street. No one that they had found on Layton's street so far knew much about him. Even the landlord's only information was that Layton was two month's behind in rent and someone was going to pay it.

This guy was not going to be easy to find.

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Trouble Kelp was not fairing much better. It seemed the only two people still talking to him were his brother, who had blown his life savings to defend Layton, and a man he had met after not being able to come up with bail and being in jail for the two months between arrest and trial.

One was still in jail, doing a couple more centuries for murder, and the other was not taking the LEP's phone calls. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do," he told his team of five officers, "I want financials for his brother as well, and track him down; I need to talk to him."

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An elf who was one of the fifteen officers running the tip hotline covered his mouthpiece and shouted, "Corporal Short!"

"Yeah," Holly called back.

"I've got someone here who'll only talk to you."

"Tell him you're in charge, and as such in a better position to help."

"No, Corporal he asked for you by name."

"Fine, patch him through."

The elf hit a couple buttons. "Okay, he's there, line one."

Holly hit a button and picked up the phone. "Corporal Short," she answered it.

"Hello Holly," came the voice from the other end.

"Who is this?"

"It's Holden Layton, and here I thought you'd be a little happier to hear from me."

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**A/N: Sorry for the insanely long delay in update. Writer's block is not my friend, but I'm back and the words are flowing again.**


	6. Chapter 6

"It's Holden Layton, and here I thought you'd be a little happier to hear from me." Holly hit the pause button on the recording of her conversation.

"It's definitely him," Lieutenant Sumal said. He had been brought up from the office he had locked himself away in for peace and quiet, so he could give immediate feedback on this new development.

Root grunted in agreement, not in the mood to waste actual words. Root had taken a rather active role in the case, under the explanation that if someone was trying to kill him he was not going to sit back a wait for someone else to find them.

Sumal was pacing the length of Root's office, muttering to himself.

"Sumal," Root started.

"A little louder Derek," Vinyaya finished for him, trying to avoid the extra stress Root finishing his thought would cause for Sumal, who needed as little stress as could be managed. She was Root's constant companion, and although Root refused to say it out loud, body guard, until Layton could be found. So far though, she had been doing what she spent most of her time in the council meetings doing, keeping Root in line as only she could. The elf had a tendency to make enemies, and council members were not the People you wanted to make enemies out of.

"He has guts, but we knew that," Sumal said.

"Calling your own tip line is not gutsy, it's crazy," Holly pointed out.

Sumal shrugged. "Also, he asked for you specifically. There's no way he could have known you were running the tip line. Which means it was just a coincidence. He is challenging you. He wants _you _to find him. For him this is no longer how many people can he kill. It's how long can he run before the LEP catches up to him, Corporal Holly Short specifically. What did he tell you Corporal?"

"That his brother doesn't know anything," Holly answered.

"He was always rather protective of his brother."

"Sorry to interrupt what is such an enlightening conversation, but you're gonna want to hear this." Foaly's voice was followed by his appearance on the plasma screen in the Commander's office.

"What've you got Foaly?" Holly asked.

"Not only did this guy call his own tip hotline, he called it from his own mobile phone. Then forgot to turn it back off. So I have tracked him down. He's in Mexico City. So this is now a Recon matter. Kelp's already on his way to the chutes and Retrieval One is right behind him. They're ready to go on your order."

Everyone in the room fully expected Root to give the green light right away, but the Commander of Recon and Retrieval stayed silent.

"Root?" Foaly asked.

"There's no way he's in Mexico City," Root said, studying another of the computer screens.

Vinyaya leaned down to look over his shoulder. It was a map of all the chutes under the world. The path Layton took highlighted in blue. "Sure looks like he's in Mexico City to me," Vinyaya said.

"Well for starters, no one goes to Mexico City and the full moon is less than a day away. If he wants to get to the surface he'd wait for the full moon and then try to get on at one of the more crowded ports, like Tara. Also there is no way Layton got through security on both ends at a pretty empty port."

Vinyaya's next comment was soft enough that only Root could hear it. "Julius, please tell me this isn't just your pride." No one else would dare say something like that to Root; much less call him Julius while doing it. Even Foaly, whose job was nearly as secure as Vinyaya's, was very careful about when he used Root's first name.

"Oh, it isn't," Root assured her. "Ponyboy, this map I've been looking at, bring it up on the center screen."

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**A/N: Yeah, okay, it's shorter than the last one, but I can't normally do two thousand word chapters in a row. Plus I felt this was a nice place to end the chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

"Now Short, I'd make sure you especially listen up here. You wanna be Recon this is something you gotta remember," Root began his explanation, "This blue line here follows the exact path of one of the chutes up to Mexico City. The shuttle port topside in Mexico City is also a major hub where cargo changes shuttles when going from Haven to Atlantis, and that chute his cell phone took is used only for cargo shuttles."

"So he's not in Mexico City," Holly said.

"Exactly. Ponyboy, get Kelp back here and cancel Retrieval One's trip to the surface, we do _not_ have a rogue fairy up there."

"Already done Root," Foaly replied.

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As soon as Trouble heard that Layton was not on the surface he shed his Recon gear and grabbed his mobile phone, typing in Holly's number.

"Corporal Short," She answered it.

"Hey, we got a location on the brother yet?"

"Yeah, works at a convenience store in the Lower East Side. Corporal Sobiat and I'll swing by and pick you up on the way there."

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"I know nothing about what my brother is doing or where he is," Eric Layton told the LEP.

"Then why haven't you been answering your phone?" Trouble asked.

"I've been busy."

"It doesn't look all that busy in here," Holly observed.

"It was until you came along. The LEP bein' here is not good for business. Holden stopped talking to me a couple months ago. Now could you leave and let me do my job."

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"He knows something." Trouble was sure of it. "There's no other reason for Layton to go out of his way to call us and tell us his brother knows nothing."

"Besides getting you chasing shadows in Mexico," Alita Sobiat pointed out.

"You believe him?" Trouble asked.

"I wouldn't believe a word that comes out of that guy's mouth. His boss is on Oyo's payroll, probably him too."

"How do you figure that the owner of this store is on the payroll of one of one of the most powerful drug and arms traffickers under the world?" Holly asked.

"The cigarettes in the store," Alita answered.

"Yeah, rather large variety, what of it?"

"A couple of the brands are human made, and there's only one person down here who can get ya human made cigarettes, Jehoden Bezant, who's way up there in Oyo's chain of command."

"Remind me why you don't work the organized crime division," Trouble said.

"Too many familiar faces," Alita replied.

"If they're working for Oyo there's gotta be something we can arrest 'em for," Holly said, "Drag him in and figure out what he knows."

"Sadly it is not that simple, cigarettes, even human made ones are not illegal, simply frowned upon, and we cannot arrest him on that basis alone."

"Well, Alita, Holly, cigarettes aren't entirely legal are they?" Trouble asked, "That girl over there how old do you think she is?"

"Not old enough to buy cigarettes," Holly answered, "Alita, what're our chances something like this is gonna work?"

"Pretty good, as I said before, those guys in there are on Oyo's payroll, they don't check and they're actually probably sellin' something stronger that cigarettes in the back. Also the local precinct here is the one-nine; they don't do this kinda thing often, so it won't be expected and they won't be able to tell it's a set up."

"Then let's do it. Alita, you know these People, go talk to the girl. See if she wants some cigarettes."

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	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry for my, like, month and a half long silence. I have had no time to write what with the end of the quarter. Seriously all of my teachers woke up one morning and realized they hadn't given us enough tests over the course of the last two months, so I had eight of them in the course of three days, not to mention an English essay. Not fun. Anyway here's the last chapter.  
**

Holly sat down across from Eric Layton and kicked her feet up onto a table. "So, you gonna answer my questions now?" she asked.

Eric did not reply, but continued staring at the mirror in front of him.

"Hey," Holly said, snapping her fingers in front of his face, "Selling cigarettes to a minor will get you two months and guarantee no self respecting business owner will hire you again. Cooperate and I will make sure those charges are dropped. I can even erase the arrest from your file."

Still Eric did not say anything.

Holly shrugged, "Seems like a lot of trouble for someone who's committed two murders this month, not to mention the other five 90 years ago."

Eric was as silent as he had been since the arrest.

Holly threw her hands in the air in defeat. "Whatever. We'll have this discussion again at some point before the arraignment."

* * *

One day later Eric requested to see Holly Short, said he had some information. "Know this first," Eric said once she arrived, "I did not help him and have not talked to him. Once he started talkin' about takin' revenge I tried to talk him out of it and then he stopped talking to me, but I know where he might be. When we were younger we lived out in the country, the whole area's been deserted for half a century now, but he might be there."

* * *

No one was sure what to expect. Infra red technology, courtesy of Foaly, had confirmed the presence of a single fairy inside the run down house, but other than that they knew nothing. The LEP had set up a base of operations half a mile from the house. Present at this base was a SWAT team and bomb squad, both the best the LEP had to offer, a hostage negotiator, on the off chance they did need one, a tech that Foaly trusted, the centaur rarely left his operations booth, Holly, Trouble, Root, and Vinyaya.

"We ready to go?" Root asked.

"Yes sir," the SWAT team leader replied, "Put on your headsets and you'll have a direct link to us. You'll know when we have him."

"That sounds suspiciously like you expect me to stay out here." Trouble said.

"That would be because I do."

"What? I am not just gonna stand here and wait." Trouble replied.

"We're not sure what to expect, and you are not trained like we are, so yes you are going to sit and wait."

"Not trained? I am a trained LEP _Recon _officer with over twenty successful recons."

The SWAT leader sighed; he knew Trouble would not give this up. "Fine, but you put a vest on and you stay behind us." He tossed Trouble a vest.

"Don't I get one?" Holly asked, folding her arms.

"No," Trouble replied before anyone else got a chance.

"If you're going, I'm going."

Trouble pulled off the vest he had been strapping on. "Fine," He said.

"Just like that. Why are you this intent on keeping me out here?"

"This guy wants you, do not ask me why, that is a question for Sumal, but that means if he gets just one shot off it's aimed at you. I am not letting you take that chance."

"You're staying out here. Both of you." The tone of Root's voice let Holly and Trouble know that resistance would not be beneficial to their future advancement.

Holly and Trouble both slipped on headsets, more annoyed than Root had ever seen two LEP officers because they were not allowed in the middle of a likely fire fight. SWAT had already surrounded the house. A simple 'Go' from Root was all they needed. "Go," Root supplied.

Those on the outside had to endure more than 30 seconds of silence before they got any communication from the SWAT team. "We got him Commander," the team leader said.

* * *

Trouble and Holly sat down at a bar less than two blocks from Police Plaza that got most of its business from LEP officers. "What can I get for ya, Captain and Corporal?" The bar tender was retired LEP, he could tell you the rank of anyone who walked in the door and knew most of the older officers by name.

"Scotch on the rocks," Holly replied.

"Make that two," Trouble said.

"And how about you Commanders? The usual?" The bar tender called down to the other end of the bar.

Holly and Trouble turned to see Root and Vinyaya sit down. "Isn't it always Ger?" Vinyaya replied.

"Two outta the three times a week you're here anyway. Where you two been these last couple days anyway? Longest I've gone without seeing you two in here." Gerald set down Holly and Trouble's drinks in front of them and walked down to where Root and Vinyaya were sitting.

"Okay what is it?" Holly asked.

"What?" Trouble replied.

"You have had that look on you're face since you heard his name, the one that means he did something in the LEP."

"Turnball Root, but then again i did my term paper on the Turnball case. Everyone connects back to Turnball Root."

"I see. So...did I pass?" Holly asked.

"I''m pretty sure."

"Good, what's my final test?"

"Not allowed to tell you that. Hey, i'm collecting some friends to play paintball this weekend. Need one more slot filled on my team. You up for it?"

"Of course, paintball's my game."

"Glad t' hear it."


End file.
